30 Days Of Night: Red Snow by Ben Templesmith

30 Days Of Night: Red Snow by Ben Templesmith (published by IDW, £13.50 approx, out now)

Back in 2002, before all this Twilight/vamp-goth-rom malarkey nibbled its way into the mainstream, writer Steve Niles and artist Ben Templesmith came up with 30 Days Of Night, a neat spin on the vampire genre, set in the small outpost settlement of Barrow, in Alaska, where for 30 days – you guessed it – the place is plunged into darkness. Flash-forward eight years and numerous spin-offs/sequels later, the concept isn’t quite so fresh. Vampires, and horror in general, have penetrated the mainstream market and aren’t the niche attraction they once were; we have tv series, book series, film series… The whole genre has arguably got tired and predictable.

Then in 2007, like a blast of fresh air, the 30 Days Of Night stable delivered quite possibly the best in the series so far, and certainly the most original: Red Snow, written and illustrated by Ben Templesmith, on solo creative duties for the first time on the title that launched his career. Set on the Eastern Front in WW2, Nazi raiding parties are terrorising the small pockets of civilisation dotted around the frosty landscape. Enter British military attaché Corporal Charlie Keating, assisting the Soviet war effort against the viciousness of the Nazi raids. Things get perilous when Keating soon realises there are worse things than the SS out in the cold… Yup, there’re vampires prowling the darkness and they aren’t fussy whether it’s Soviet or Nazi blood they gorge on! This volume collects the 3 issue mini-series and it’s a cracker; Templesmith has produced an excellent tale, skilfully plotted and brilliantly scripted, fully exploiting the claustrophobia of the setting to its maximum potential. His art, as usual, is atmospheric and hauntingly evocative. He even has time to cram in a couple of sneaky cameos from the first 30 Days Of Night…

So, a great WW2 story and a brilliant standalone vamp yarn (it’s by no means essential that you’ve read the rest of the 30 Days titles), plus a reinvigoration of a flagging series. A must-read.

TEMPLESMITH FACTS:

– Born on March 7^th 1978 in Perth, Western Australia.

– Made his American comics debut with Hellspawn in 2002, a spin-off from Spawn.

– He is left-handed.

RECOMMENDED TEMPLESMITH:

Fell – Volume 1: Feral City (Image Comics, £10.99) collects the initial run of this currently ongoing series; written by Warren Ellis (you’ll have heard of him, right?), this is a supernatural detective thriller which is mean, moody and spooky. Wormwood – Volume 1: Gentleman Corpse (IDW, £14.99) is Templesmith’s creator-owned comedic-horror title and has run since 2004, on-and-off. Collected in three volumes so far (2: it Only Hurts When I Pee & 3: Calimari Rising, both available at £14.99, published by IDW), this fuses sick laughs with gruesome horror.

Andy Jamieson, Editor